greetings from bremerhaven!

i arrived safely in bremerhaven on friday night, after much time on planes, trains, and automobiles. sweaty, dirty, and tired of hauling my bags, i was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone i talked to was exceedingly kind and helpful. one particular man, who i flagged down on the train platform in a little burst of panic when i missed my train, even walked me to the next terminal and loaded my bags onto the car. when i asked him what he did for a living, he told me in his broken english "ah, i drive zee train." what service!

i made it to town and was found by my new labmate felix, who drove me to the guesthouse and helped me settle in. the apartment i'm in is gorgeous. it's big, airy, and full of giant windows that open both sideways and from the bottom. that german engineering. my roommate, and it turns out everyone in the guesthouse, is a fellow student at awi, the marine research institute i am working for.

highlights of the weekend included: a long walk along the harbor where they were having a festival of boats, my first taste of german food (which consisted of fresh vegetables, tasty bread, and so delicious milk and cheese), wandering around the "park" near my house (which would be more accurately described as a forest. oh and i learned it's just the "little" park), teaching a swahilian guy down the hall how to pronounce "monochromatic light intensity," and beginning to explore the city and meet new people.

bremerhaven is really a very small town. (especially compared to san francisco, obviously.) it's jarringly quiet, especially at night when most of the town's daily population goes home to their houses in nearby bremen. (night-time is also only dark between sunset at 10pm and sunrise at 4am. apparently it gets shorter still in late june. crazy!) after a day of culture shock, i began actually to look forward to a slow-paced life here this summer. it will allow me to focus more on learning about this new field i've chosen to nose-dive into, which makes me really happy.

and the cuttles. oh the cuttles. yesterday was my first day at work. and the girl who was touring me around, magda, i think very intentionally saved the best part of the campus for last. the best part being the vats (repeat: VATS) of cuttlefish i will be in charge of this summer. slight change in plan from the original of raising eggs, since they couldn't find any on their last trip to france. which just sadly means we're going to have to go out again soon. pity.

these animals are so beautiful, so amazing. all my doubts about this summer disappeared the moment i looked into that first tank. i can't believe i am getting the chance to work with these creatures, to literally follow these stupids dreams i have been having for so long and make them a reality. i'm going to be a marine biologist!

i also met about half my housemates at a bbq last night, which seems to be the thing people do to entertain themselves. i live next door to the spanish suite it turns out, which is really awesome. it's a foreign language i can actually understand! and there are a couple of people from my lab there as well, who are really nice. so it's rapidly beginning to feel like home here. (oh and i found not one but two fabric stores yesterday too, which really completely sealed the deal on my happiness.)

and though i miss home, i am still really excited for this upcoming summer. i will continue to post here if you want to hear about my (mis)adventures, and i will upload photos soon too.

and now, i have to get back to work. shweet...